


Speaking Nonsense

by Cleocatra_123



Category: One Piece
Genre: (Because I Couldn't Find a Full Clip of the Scene I Was Referencing), F/M, Pining, Revolutionary Army - Freeform, Slight Canon Divergence, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-03 00:49:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20255452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cleocatra_123/pseuds/Cleocatra_123
Summary: Koala often found herself regretting words the second they came out of her mouth.





	Speaking Nonsense

Koala often found herself regretting words the second they came out of her mouth. Her actions, too. It’s not that they shouldn’t have been said or done. But how people tended to react made it feel like rusted gears were turning in her chest, sending iron flakes cascading that would come to weigh her down later.

Maybe “people” wasn’t the right word. More like, how one person tended to react.

~~ ~~

“Ouch.”

Sabo-kun glared up at Koala, clutching the cheeks that she had been stretching a few seconds ago. He turned away, muttering under his breath about Fujitora. Was he even going to consider what she said? But now, she couldn’t stop thinking. About the look he’d given her. He was so annoyed. He hadn’t even listened to her. He just tuned out what she said and waited for her lecture to be over. Was that what all their conversations were like for him? Maybe Sabo-kun didn’t even consider Koala his friend. She was now starting to wish she hadn’t pinched his face. If Koala and Sabo-kun weren’t as familiar as she thought, maybe that had been too touchy for a mission partner. Koala bit her lip and tried to ignore the fact that her face was burning.

“Koala? Aren’t you coming?”

Sabo-kun was several feet ahead of her.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

~~ ~~

“I heard they picked up some new recruits from Shida.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Apparently they found out their king was using their high taxes to pay for jewelry instead of building a bridge.”

“Wow. That’s crazy.”

“They haven’t revolted yet, though.”

“Really?”

“That shows a lot of restraint, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, totally.”

“Karasu is helping them come up with an effective way to take up arms. The king’s army has an impressive cavalry.”

“Wow, that’s gonna be tough.”

Sabo regarded Koala with puzzlement. She seemed different lately. She was way less involved in their dinner conversations then usual. Up until now, Koala had always been opinionated and passionate, with around four rants about morality per meal.

“Uh… have you got any interesting students lately? I heard some new kids got dropped off from the South Blue.”

“Well, not really. Most of them are learning under Hack.” Koala leaned back to tap Hack’s shoulder, who was sitting two seats to her left. “How are those kids from the South Blue holding up?”

Hack picked up the conversation from there, droning on about how one particular student was having trouble with his kicks and another would always sit out during warm-ups. During his rant about pulled muscles, Koala pushed back her chair and stood.

“Koala? Where are you going?”

“Oh, just to the bathroom.”

“There're only four minutes left. Do you want me to take your plate?”

“Sure. Thanks, Sabo-kun.” Koala frowned slightly as she took her jacket from the chair. After she was out of earshot, Sabo leaned across the table to Hack and whispered.

“Did she seem alright to you?”

“I don’t know, did you think something was wrong?”

Sabo sighed. Maybe I was just imagining things. Still, he quickly shoved the rest of his food in his mouth and started clearing his and Koala’s plates while chewing. He would talk to her about it right after dinner, Sabo decided.

~~ ~~

Koala stared down her puffy-eyed reflection in the mirror. Cold water only made her face pink instead of red, but since nobody had come into the bathroom yet, Koala reasoned she could probably avoid bumping into anyone else before getting to her sleeping quarters.

She was very surprised, however, to walk around the corner straight into Sabo’s chest.

“Woah,” he laughed as Koala quickly took a step back. He frowned, though, when he scanned her face and probably recognized the after-effects of her bathroom mental breakdown. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Koala shrugged his hand off but stuck her hands in her coat pockets to disguise the gesture. Then she placed a hand on her head, cringing inwardly at the awkwardness of the motion.

“I’m fine, I just have a headache.” Koala tried a cheerful smile, but Sabo didn’t look very convinced.

“I didn’t drink a lot of water today. That’s probably why…” Adding more onto the lie didn’t seem like it was working. But Sabo’s expression softened, and he half-smiled as he turned to look out the window. Not wanting to drag out the conversation anymore, Koala side-stepped until she was back on her way to her quarters.

“I’m gonna go lie down for the night. ‘Night, Sabo-kun.” She started walking away.

“Wait,” Sabo called out.

Koala hesitated but turned back to look at him.

“We should get you a glass of water before that, right?”

~~ ~~

Later that night, Koala and Sabo both laid in their respective beds, thinking. Sabo, thinking about how an ordinary headache didn’t warrant tears and aversion to talking to your friends. Koala, thinking about how despite how annoying he probably found her, Sabo always treated her kindly. And how fuzzy that made her stomach feel.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading to the end of this chapter :) (even tho it's short). This is the first fic I've ever made public, so I didn't really know how to tag it. Also, I don't have a beta reader so if you spot grammatical mistakes don't be afraid to point them out. :)))))


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